Checks and Balances
by Idan
Summary: After Blood for Blood (3x14), Jane and Lisbon talk about influence, justice, and cherry pie.


**Disclaimer** : I claim no rights to The Mentalist and am making no profit from this story. It's all about the love, not money!

 **Author's Note** : I recently rewatched Blood for Blood, which I didn't remember as a favorite episode. But I found a lot to love in it, so I thought I'd try a tag. I've been writing from Jane's POV lately so it's only fair for Lisbon to get her turn!

* * *

Lisbon blinked back tears when Trina hugged her, whispering, "Thank you, Teresa. I promise I'll be good. I swear."

Aunt Jody was openly wiping tears away, astonished and grateful to have her niece returned un-arrested. "Thank you," she echoed. "This is the right thing to do. You won't regret it."

"We know," Jane said. He was beaming, as he had been since they'd left the juvenile detention center.

His happiness, which she'd previously only caught brief glimpses of, stirred a roiling mix of emotions in Lisbon. She basked in his approval but was annoyed at herself for doing so—she was supposed to be the one in charge, after all. And her decision felt right, but she was all too aware that she'd have a hard time justifying it if Hightower chose to make it an issue. She'd end up parroting Jane's arguments, in fact. And she hated knowing that.

As they went out to the car, she fumed a little. She'd let him manipulate her again, is what it boiled down to. She had no doubt there was a rich vein of smugness about that in his satisfaction at saving Trina from the system.

But he'd been right, which always made her grit her teeth a little. It had been self defense. And given that Trina had a capable and loving guardian, it would be a waste of California's dwindling resources to put her in foster care.

Not to mention it would add to the girl's trauma, possibly ruining her future. That was what Jane had argued. Say what you will about the man, when he chose to care about someone, he did it wholeheartedly. And she couldn't begrudge him his happiness at saving an innocent girl.

It would far too soon turn to guilt as he remembered the girl he hadn't been able to save. She wondered if Trina had reminded him of Charlotte.

"I think this calls for a celebration," Jane announced as she pulled out of the driveway, clapping his hands together. "A slice of pie perhaps?"

"We're working, Jane."

"We're allowed meal breaks. Come on. My treat." He smiled at her. It was damn near irresistible, that smile, she thought. It was her duty to resist it, though.

As his boss, it was. But she also considered herself his friend. And he was so rarely happy; it would be a shame to take that from him, she told herself. "All right. A quick snack. That's all."

"You won't regret it, Lisbon," he assured her.

Like every time he said that to her, she was pretty sure she would, eventually. But for now, she was kind of hungry.

Jane had a freakish ability to find a diner whenever he wanted one, and soon they were sitting at a table being served slices of cherry pie a la mode with coffee for her and tea for him. The waitress, a young woman who looked like she'd already had a hard life, was almost giddy under the influence of Jane's happy smile; Lisbon thought wryly that if he wanted something the diner didn't have, she'd probably go out and get it for him.

"No need to be grumpy, Lisbon. We're celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" she grumbled.

"The case is closed. We got a dirty marshal and a criminal off the streets. And a young girl now has a bright future ahead of her under her aunt's guidance." Jane took a bite of pie and closed his eyes to savor it.

"I hope so," Lisbon said. And she did, of course. Poor Trina had had a lot to bear in her life already; Lisbon hoped the rest of it would fall easily into place for her.

"There's no call for skepticism. We both know what it's like to have a father who does us more harm than good. She'll be spared that now. Eat up, Lisbon. This is an excellent pie that should not be ignored. See how flaky the crust is? And the filling is just so, not overly sweet. Try it."

Lisbon took a bite. It was good, but she was too preoccupied to take much notice. She hadn't stopped to consider before that she and Jane had pasts with striking similarities. She didn't know what had happened to his mother, but obviously she hadn't played much of a role in his life past early childhood. And his father hadn't been any more of a role model than hers. At least she'd had her brothers. She couldn't imagine what it had been like for Jane to deal with his father with no help, to grow up basically alone.

But maybe his friends had helped. Maybe Angela had. He'd said they'd escaped together, after all. In that, he'd been luckier than she had, since she'd had to escape by herself, carrying a heavy burden of guilt and her brothers' resentment that lingered to this day.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Jane asked, his smile dimming a little with concern.

"Nothing."

He hummed an acknowledgment of her answer, but she knew he didn't accept it. "I want to thank you, Lisbon. I know it's not easy for you to bend the rules. But you did a beautiful thing today. Trina will be grateful to you all her life."

Lisbon shrugged awkwardly. She wasn't used to Jane praising her without it being a tease of some kind.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to become a police officer or social worker, wanting to help people just as you helped her," Jane mused. "Unless of course she follows her aunt into the military. Either way, all the good she will do in the world will be due to you and your act of compassion. Few people ever do that much, Lisbon. You should be proud."

"We are all responsible for our own actions. What Trina does will be to her credit, not mine."

"But we all influence other lives by our actions. You can't deny that."

"That doesn't mean we get to take credit for their actions. Or blame."

"Not total credit or blame, no." Jane held his fork suspended above his pie as he thought. "But none of us is an island."

Lisbon snorted at the irony. "Says the Lone Ranger."

"People influence me," he said, sounding surprised. "You, for instance."

"Really? Because it seems like you mostly ignore me."

"I never ignore you."

"Yeah, right." Lisbon stabbed her pie and scooped a piece into her mouth.

"I consider everything you say to me," Jane argued, frowning now. "I may sometimes conclude that I don't agree with you, but I don't ignore you."

Lisbon didn't know if that was better or worse than ignoring her. What she did know was that Jane's happy aura was gone. She'd killed it dead. Damn. "Nice to know. So, are you taking your share of credit for Trina going free? Because you influenced me?"

"I wouldn't call it influence. I merely laid out the facts in a logical manner that enabled you to perceive the morally correct course of action."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "And you're the ultimate judge of what's morally correct."

He shrugged. "Not always. My moral code isn't the conventional one you were taught. But sometimes that's an advantage. I learned at an early age that justice and the law are not synonymous."

"The aim of the law is justice," she argued.

"In theory. In practice, laws are often passed to favor one group over the other, thus perverting justice."

Lisbon scowled, unable to refute the point. "Laws against murder are not in that category."

"Not usually, no. But the wheels of justice grind slowly, sometimes destroying those caught in its grip. As you acknowledged by sparing Trina that fate." He smiled at her again, then continued, "Your loyalty to the system is admirable. But any system designed and run by human beings is imperfect. Sometimes in order to achieve the desirable, moral, and just outcome, we have to circumvent it."

"That's a slippery slope," Lisbon warned. "Once you set yourself up as the judge of what's right, you're likely to begin rationalizing that the things you want are desirable, moral, and just, even if other people would disagree."

"True. Which is why checks and balances are so important." Jane beamed at her again, scraping the last bit of cherries and ice cream off his plate.

"What checks and balances?"

"Us."

"Us." She shook her head at him. "Really."

"Yes. When we're in agreement, I know my judgment is correct."

"And when we're not, you know you're wrong?" she challenged.

"Well, that my judgment is in doubt, anyway," he demurred.

"Huh." She wasn't sure she was buying this. Did that mean he admitted his intent to kill Red John was wrong, because she didn't agree? Did that mean she would be able to stop him?

"Today proved that you are a reliable judge of the morally correct action in an ambiguous situation," Jane continued blithely. "Which is very reassuring. So thank you for that, Lisbon."

"You're welcome." She wished she could say the same, but Jane's willingness to do the right thing—or to do a wrong thing to someone—seemed to depend mostly on whether he liked the person involved. In some ways, he had the moral sense of a first grader. Maybe that's when he'd lost his mother?

"And there's no need to worry about Hightower. If she gives you any trouble, I'll deal with it."

Now, that was downright alarming, she thought. She couldn't quite figure out what Hightower and Jane thought of each other, aside from wary admiration, but she was worried about getting caught in the middle if their truce became a shootout. "I can handle Hightower. It was my decision, not yours, and I'll take any heat for it."

"Very noble." Jane's smile edged toward a smirk.

Lisbon finished her coffee and motioned to the waitress to bring the check. "You done? We need to get back to work."

Jane sipped his tea, smoothly intercepting the check. "My treat," he reminded Lisbon.

"Thanks." She wasn't going to argue.

As they walked out into the sunshine, she glanced at him. He was still smiling, but it was a small, private one, not the dazzler he used for show. He paused beside the passenger door of their car and looked at her. "I'm very glad to know you, Teresa Lisbon. Very glad."

She smiled back, pleased. "I'm glad to know you too," she said softly.

They got in the car, and she started it. "Of course," she added, "I'd be more glad if you didn't cause so much paperwork."

Jane chuckled, looking out the window. "I'll take that into consideration."


End file.
